Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Andy Long is from Flinders in Victoria and got hold of me to help him with a board. He wanted to build a hollow wooden board but I talked him round to building one vacuum bagged over styrene. So I bagged the top and bottom skins on for him and sent him the timber ready to laminate the rails himself. Then some templates to help shape the rails. This is the result ...

Andy adding the first rail bands to the board.

He wanted it to be a little piggy and it looks great.

" Bit of a test, but with the info you gave me, took my time & really happy with result. I do like the old boards so decided to glass this one ( covers up my stuff ups, gives it some weight for glide & hopefully protects her from the local reefs to) with poly which really brings out the beauty in the timber. Dan & Choc Oke from Oke surfboards did the glasswork, finbox & shine. Fin from Byron's Wizz. Bit timid about putting wax on her, but dying to have a wave."

"The other board is a timber kookbox with rails & fin, I rescued from the dumpmaster. Guy throwing it says his uncle made it in the late 50's & used it on the local beaches @ Flinders, Pt Leo & Shoreham. Been stored under the family holiday house since the 70/80's. Fair bit of work to bring her back, but she's come up a treat. Thanks again for your assistance & guidance. Really happy with the result & will give you a ride report when she gets wet."

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Mark Burgin sent me this story to pass on as it is an interesting piece to share.

Tasmania may well be the first home of surfing in Australia. The common theory is that surfing started at Freshwater Beach in Sydney with the arrival of Duke Kahanamoku and his exhibition of surfing during the summer of 1915. My grandfather was among the many people who went to watch the Duke surf after his much publicised arrival from Hawaii. A recent interview with David Montgomery (my chiropractor!) revealed that there were Australian surfers out in the water when the Duke gave his demonstration. Not to say that the Duke wasn't a big influence on surfing in Australia but it appears he was not the first to surf in Australia.
American whaling ships were turning up in Hobart for provisions from the very early days of the colony. Many early convicts’ only chance of leaving the colony was aboard an American whaler, whose crews were very sympathetic to their plight. Whaling ships were always short of crew as the work was extremely hard in very trying conditions and they were often at sea for up to five years. Mostly the crew were under twenty-five as the work was so tough anyone older could rarely keep up the pace of sailing the tall ship, chasing the whales in rowing boats and then processing the carcasses into oil.
Whaling ships were the space ships of their day, exploring areas of the world that no westerner had ever seen, in their relentless pursuit of whales for their precious oil. These ships stopped at many islands well before the missionaries brought their message and the custom of wearing clothes.
One of the first stops for whaling ships out of America was Hawaii. One of the activities that the young crew participated in was surfing. Surfing was a common recreation in the Hawaiian Islands with both men and women participating, usually with out wearing clothes! It is easy to see why crew though this was a good sport to get into, with girls riding the waves.
Early Hawaiian body boards were called "paipo", were only around 5' long and were made of solid wood. There are reports of surfing in Hawaii from the early 1830’s, about the same time that whalers were arriving in Hobart. There is probably little doubt that whaler crews would have carried boards with them when they arrived in Hobart. Bellerive beach was close to the anchorage, and has a long history of surfing. So it seems there was surfing in Tasmania from very early days.
Huon pine was used to build early surfboards in Hobart by Risby brothers. Risby brothers were a milling company established in 1844 and soon moved into hardware and shipbuilding. The time they started to make surfboards is unclear, but the model owned by David Montgomery dates from around 1930, when they were being advertised in the Mercury. David said the elderly gentleman he bought the board from in 1997 told him it belonged to his grandfather, which gives some substance to the early reports.
Whilst it is not certain where the Huon pine was sourced it is a good bet to say it came from the Huon Valley. The Maritime Museum in Hobart is holding an exhibition soon of early surfing equipment and the board from Risby brothers will be on display.

This is the Rigby board 3ft 6" long x 13 1/2" inches wide x 5/8" thick with 3" of nose lift and note the little Rigsby Bros bronze name plate on the deck.

There is also an interesting connection between Hawaii and Franklin (Tasmania) from very early days.Lady Jane Franklin was a regular visitor to Hawaii, perhaps when her husband John Franklin was off trying to discover the North West passage.
Lady Franklin was a guest of Queen Liliuokalani at the royal palace in Honolulu on Oahu in the late 1800's, before the annexation by battleship of Hawaii by America in 1898.
Lady Franklin assisted the queen in designing the Hawaiian flag. The Hawaiian flag is the only state flag in the U.S. to have the union jack as part of the design. Did the remarkable Lady Franklin play some part in its presence in their flag? We will probably never know.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

I hope everyone has had a good break and have arrive back at work safely to face the New Year. I have been busy building wooden boards over the holidays. Here are 4 mini simmons and a 9ft 6" pintail all in getting their fin boxes fitted by Peter "Mo" before I embark on final shaping the rails and finish sanding them. I have another 2 simmons nearly ready for fins as well.

This is a 4ft 4" x 22" x 2 1/4" simmons I finished for Raz just before Christmas. I is a step down from the 4ft 8" he had.

The ones I have on the go are 4ft 8" and 5ft simmons of the same design as this one. All of them are unglassed and finished with Lanolin.

2016 Poster

This years Wooden Surfboard Day will be Sunday 7th August

2015 Poster

Poster for 2012

Poster for 2011

Poster for 2010

Poster for 2009

The joy of wood and water...

Wooden surfboards have been around for a long time and it was probably on a simple piece of wood that man first enjoyed surfing waves somewhere in the world. It may have only been a crude piece of driftwood found on the beach that served as a way of catching that first wave, but the joy and connection felt with the sea then is no different from what we feel today.As someone who has crafted a surfboard from wood, taken it out and caught a wave on it, I can tell you that the first time you paddle in and get to your feet, is truly a timeless feeling of joy and achievement. I hope that in assembling this list of talented people will inspire you to have a go at building your dream board and also experience that feeling for yourself.